Quick Links

Resist What? The Left’s Resistance Calendar

At its core, the radicals embrace the defeat of America overseas and its ruination at home. Anyone who doubts this should just look back to the last time the Left manifested this much enthusiasm in the streets and in the media: the 1970s. The very idea of “making America great” infuriates them. It is the Leftist strategy of intimidation and force on behalf of an ideology that has only brought disastrous failure wherever it has been imposed that truly needs to be resisted.

By William R. Hawkins l March 6, 2017

Presidents Day was supposed to be a day of “resistance” against President Donald Trump on the left-wing theme “He’s not our president.” The protests largely fizzled with only hundreds rather than thousands in the streets in even major cities. This may be a case of fatigue after the massive mobs that showed up in the days immediately following Trump’s inauguration. But the hard-core “revolutionaries” are not lessening their hate speech or efforts to thwart the agenda of the new administration.

Leftist filmmaker Michael Moore is among those who have turned to the Internet to launch a website named the “Resistance Calendar.” Moore says it will be “where you can find EVERY upcoming action, protest, march, sit-in, town hall, anti-Trump, pro-democracy event in all 50 states! …A place where you can quickly go and check it daily, ensuring that you don’t miss any event in your area to stop the Trump madness.”

The far-left outlet The Nation (whose title cannot refer to the American nation which its editors and writers abhor) has published a guide to the “new grassroots resistance groups” that have appeared since November 9. It notes, “Not all of them will succeed—some false starts are a given—but like any collection of innovative start-ups, it only takes a few successes to change the landscape.”

President Trump has only been in office a bit over a month. So, what is the “madness” that the Left is “resisting?” And what appeal can the protests have to the general public?

Trump, after all, ran on issues that have had bi-partisan appeal right up to the election. His lead issue was job creation, and even before taking office, he worked with major companies to maintain employment in America and reverse the outsourcing of jobs overseas. Who wants to “resist” this?

Indeed, on the trade issue, labor unions, Congressional Democrats and citizens in general were much more critical of “free trade” than the leadership of the Republican Party, who were owned by transnational business donors. It was Trump’s protest against an Establishment that had allowed the decimation of American industry that fueled the real working class uprising that broke the “blue wall” in the Midwest for him to win the White House.

Another major campaign issue was rebuilding the nation’s decaying infrastructure. The speeches of both Trump and Hillary Clinton could have been written by the same person, so similar were they on this topic. Trump wants large investments in transportation, clean water, a modern and reliable electricity grid, telecommunications, cyber security and other pressing domestic needs. As part of this plan, and consistent with his job creation priority, any such program will include strong “Buy America” provisions for the equipment and materials to be used in construction. Again, who would want to “resist” this? There should be broad support on both sides of the aisle for such a program.

A major theme of many protests, especially those held at Congressional offices, is to keep Obamacare. Yet, there is fast becoming nothing to keep as the system is collapsing. Despite escalating premiums, doctors and insurers are losing money and withdrawing from the system. The proponents of universal health coverage should, however, realize they have won the debate. All that is in play now are the details.

As Trump said during the campaign, he wants to replace Obamacare with a system that works to provide everyone with truly affordable care. He has pulled the GOP with him and away from a simple repeal of Obamacare. Rather than “resist” reform, Democrats should provide input to build a system that works, which is the criteria favored by a President whose business success was built on pragmatism rather than ideology.

The largest protest against Trump was the so-called “Women’s March” the day after the inauguration. Rallies were held world-wide. Though other issues got thrown into the mix, the theme was that Trump somehow threatens the progress women have made in recent decades.

Yet, Trump has surrounded himself with successful women. He was the first presidential candidate to have a female campaign manager, whose skill won the race. His daughter is another success story, but opponents are now trying to boycott her apparel line. More leftist opposition was voiced against Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos than against most of her male cabinet colleagues. Her work to expand school choice and improve a dysfunctional educational system understandably upsets those teachers who fear accountability, but she should win applause from parents who want a better future for their children. How can this be a basis for a wide-spread “resistance” movement?

The real “madness” on the political scene today was shown by the teacher in Seattle who told an anti-Trump rally that it was time to “start killing people” to bring down the White House and “F*ck the U.S. empire.” Her rant was met with cheers.

An indicator of what is motivating the Left on women’s issues was an essay in the liberal journal The New Republic by Jessa Crispin entitled “The Failure of Mainstream Feminism” (Feb. 13). She is aghast that a majority of white women voted for Trump, many under the feminist banner. She argues that feminism has failed because it has abandoned its radical Left roots.

Radical feminists traditionally believed that the patriarchy was inextricably intertwined with capitalism: that the entire structure of our society was based on the exploitation of the poor, women, and nonwhite races. The liberation of women entailed nothing less than the overthrow of old systems based on competition, greed, and power.

The problem with what she calls “second stage” or “mainstream” feminism is that is has moved to self-empowerment and the reduction of the kind of “sexism” that held women back as individuals. She laments that “mainstream feminists work to shore up the status quo, seeking equal access to the system of oppression.”

Under the sway of “self-empowerment,” feminist progress began to be measured accordingly: how many women serve as CEOs at Fortune 500 companies, or enjoy bylines at male-dominated magazines like The Atlantic, or gain admission to elite business schools. Much of mainstream feminist discourse likewise focuses on how best to empower yourself via money and work. The pro-woman power elite peers deeply into the savage inequalities of American life and asks, in essence, “Where’s my half of the profits?”

How many of the women marching in “resistance” to Trump realized that they were not really trying to save the gains of the last 40 years in gender equality, but were mere cannon fodder for radicals who want to destroy the capitalist system which provides the most rewarding opportunities for anyone with talent and a willingness to work – including women? Indeed, the Left hates successful women even more than men because they are considered traitors to the “revolution.”

Does an airhead like Madonna, who told a rally she fantasizes about blowing up the White House, understand that the radicals who organized the rally would confiscate her fortune just as fast as that of any bank executive (of either gender) if they got the chance?

It should not come as a surprise that a movement which uses extremist rhetoric and looks to mob action in the streets to redress an election defeat conducted by the rules of constitutional law and the peaceful transfer of power would have the radical transformation of America as its ultimate goal.

At its core, the radicals embrace the defeat of America overseas and its ruination at home. Anyone who doubts this should just look back to the last time the Left manifested this much enthusiasm in the streets and in the media: the 1970s. The very idea of “making America great” infuriates them. It is the Leftist strategy of intimidation and force on behalf of an ideology that has only brought disastrous failure wherever it has been imposed that truly needs to be resisted.

William R. Hawkins, a former economics professor and Congressional staffer, is a consultant specializing in international economics and national security issues. He is a contributor to SFPPR News & Analysis, of the conservative-online-journalism center at the Washington-based Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research.